I had a wedding take me back to my home state of Iowa and figured I'd bring some camping and fishing gear along.

After the wedding I headed to the hill country in Northeast Iowa. I was worried that the drought would make the streams unfishable, but found some of the streams flowing cold and with good levels for this time of the year. The streams that were in good condition were loaded with trout. It seems the DNR has suspended stocking in streams in poor condition and the colder flowing streams are receiving extra trout.

The only surface activity was midges early and late. I spent most of my time fishing nymphs catching mostly stocker rainbows and brookies, but had a few wild browns mixed in each day. Not bad fishing for a late summer trip in drought conditions with lots of fishermen on the water.

After years fishing the freestone streams of NC, it was nice to get back to the spring creeks of the driftless. I forgot how nice it was to leave the wading boots behind and wet wade in a pair of Tevas without being in constant fear of falling. I also enjoyed the lack of rhodos. Many times I actually had the luxury of a backcast.